The Everglades, Southern Florida, US. The Everglades is an expansive subtropical wetland that is centrally located in the South Florida Ecosystem.

It includes the Kissimmee River Valley, Lake Okeechobee, Big Cypress Swamp, Florida Bay, Biscayne Bay, and the Florida Key.

Occupies about 4000 square miles of the entire watershed, which is 310 miles from north to south and 62 miles from east to west (10,000 square miles).

It is largest wetland in the United States and one of the largest freshwater marshes in the world. The Everglades is an expansive subtropical wetland that is centrally located in the South Florida Ecosystem.

Occupies about 4000 square miles of the entire watershed, which is 310 miles from north to south and 62 miles from east to west (10,000 square miles).

It is largest wetland in the United States and one of the largest freshwater marshes in the world. Restoration used broad sense, covering both;

Restoring – to pre disturbance ecological character andRehabilitate – to improve wetland functions, but not necessarily to pre disturbance ecological character

Wetland restoration refers to the return of a wetland from disturbed or altered condition caused by human activity to a previously existing condition. Unique everglades biodiversity A Changed Everglades Historic condition Current condition Historically, large-scale disturbances such as floods, hurricanes and fires were a regular occurrence and Everglades species were adapted to them. However, these disturbances were not conducive to the increasing human population of South Florida.

As populations grew, public demand increased to control floods, to provide water and to make more land available for agriculture and development

This was accomplished by: Draining wetlands Channelizing rivers Installing water control structures 1. Disturb hydrology In an effort to reverse the decline of the Everglades ecosystem, the state of Florida and the federal government launched the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (hereafter, the Restoration Plan) in 2000. Wetland restoration in Everglades, South Florida Historical problems: Leading to construction of Central & Southern Florida Project Hurricanes in 1926 and 1928 resulted in failure of the levee around Lake OkeechobeeHurricane in 1947 resulted in wide-spread flooding throughout South Florida.As population grew, the public demand increased to control floods, to provide water and to make more land available for agriculture and development.State of Florida requested Federal assistance in 1947.Congress authorized the C&SF Project in 1948. 2,800 kilometers of canals and levees160 major drainage basinsOver 2,000 water control structures200 major structures36 pump stations Central & Southern Florida Project System modification Half of the Everglades lost to Urban and Agriculture development Too little water for the South Florida ecosystem6.4 million cubic meters of water per day is lost to the oceanDeclining estuary healthMassive reductions in wading bird populationsDegradation of water qualityLoss of native habitat to invasive exotic vegetation70 Federally-listed threatened and endangered species An Everglades ecosystem in trouble.... The goal of CERP To transform a highly engineered ecosystem riddled with canals and levees into an interconnected system of natural wetlands that flood and drain in a manner that resembles the historic hydrology.

Once the hydrology is restored it is hoped that other indicators such as water quality and biodiversity will improve as well.

The CERP will take approximately 30 years to implement and was originally estimated to cost $7.8 billion. Federal funding for the restoration effort is approximately $165 million per year.

CERP takes: (1) An ecosystem-based approach and (2) Uses the best available science to guide the decision-making process. (3) Adaptive management approach due to the difficulty of implementing such a large and complex restoration project, as well as a fair amount of scientific uncertainty, the plan also takes an . CERP

The plan includes more than 60 major components that aim to restore the ecosystem, while providing flood protection and ensuring water supplies. The principal goal of CERP is to deliver the right amount of water, of the right quality, to theright places, and at the right time. Primary goal: Increase the amount of available water Everglades restoration priorities Restoration of Kissimmee River Tamiami trail modification The Kissimmee River Restoration (KRR) Project covers about 3,000 square miles in an area from Orlando south to Lake Okeechobee.

The KRR project is intended to restore over 40 square miles of river and floodplain ecosystem including 43 miles of meandering river channel and 27,000 acres of wetlands. Objectives: Re-establish historic hydrology Recreate river-floodplain connection Recreate historic wetland plant communities Restore historic biological diversity and functionality The purpose of the Tamiami Trail modifications is to allow for increased flow into Everglades National Park.

The Tamiami Trail modifications will allow for water levels in the L-29 Canal to rise periodically to 8.5 feet NGVD and will open and increase flows that are now being constricted by existing culverts underneath the Tamiami Trail roadway. C-111 Spreader Canal Purpose:

Restoration of Taylor Slough and downstream areas within Everglades National Park A series of pump stations and water impoundment areas are being constructed along the eastern border of the park. These features will be used to divert water away from the C-111 canal back toward the park’s eastern border. This water, which might otherwise have been funneled down the canal, will be pooled in detention areas and canals immediately adjacent to the park, creating a “hydraulic ridge” that will maintain a barrier to seepage loss from the park and retain water in Taylor Slough.Operational changes to water control structures downstream will incrementally raise water levels in the area. Additionally, segments of canals to the south are being plugged to promote greater overland flow through the freshwater marsh. Current Condition Hydraulic Ridge Picayune Strand The Picayune Strand Restoration project area includes 55,000 acres of native Florida wetlands and uplands located between Alligator Alley (Interstate 75) and the Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41) in the southwestern corner of the state.

Project Features: • Constructing three spreader canals• Constructing three pump stations: Merritt, Faka Union, & Miller• Plugging 48 miles of canals (with more than 100 plugs to block the flow)• Removing and degrading 260 miles of crumbling roads• Managing non-native vegetation (clear exotic plant species from the canal banks) Restoring the Picayune Strand entails plugging 48 miles of canals that were originally dug to provide flood protection for a sprawling residential area that was never built.

Building and operating pump stations will allow natural resource and water managers to direct fresh water to drained wetlands as well as to maintain current levels of flood protection on land outside the project area.

Removing 260 miles of crumbling roads and management of non-native vegetation will further enhance restoration efforts.

Besides restoring fresh water wetlands, the Picayune Project will improve estuarine water quality by increasing groundwater recharge and reducing large and unnatural freshwater inflows. Everglades Agriculture Area (EAA) In response to the changes in both hydropattern and nutrient concentrations, the Florida Legislature enacted the Everglades Forever Act (EFA) The EFA mandated the construction of a series of large treatment wetlands, referred to as Stormwater Treatment (STAs), to reduce the phosphorus loading in stormwater being discharged into the remaining Everglades system to an interim target of 50 ug-P/L. Challenges Restoration at this large scale involves many uncertainties, constraints, and tradeoffs, such as restoring hydrologic conditions with sufﬁcient water ﬂow while meeting water-quality goals.

Increasing the amount of water stored in the Everglades is a major near-term priority for the Restoration Plan. However, the reduced area and water storage capacity of the ecosystem mean that restoration benefits will be distributed unevenly across the Everglades landscape. Hydrologic conditions may even worsen in some areas in order to achieve the desired outcomes in other areas.

Improving water quantity and ﬂow in the Everglades is closely linked to the challenge of restoring water quality. Restoration planners cannot design projects to move large quantities of water into the Everglades without ﬁrst ensuring that the water will meet established water quality criteria. Meanwhile, getting the water quality right has proven to be more difﬁcult than originally imagined.

Improving water quality throughout the ecosystem is likely to be very costly and take several decades of commitment to system-wide integrated planning and design efforts that simultaneously address nutrient source controls, storage, and treatment over a range of time scales. Restoration success Restoration efforts have resulted in environmental improvements that have exceeded expectations during many of the years, for example:

The backfilling of the C-38 Canal and restoration of Kissimmee River are one of Florida's great watershed restoration success stories, where this restoration project has increased the amount of water storage in the upper Kissimmee Basin.

An increased amount of water flow in the Everglades National Park resulted in re-hydrated the plants habitat there which then let to the comeback of some missing species.

Water Quality Programmes are effective - The Everglades nutrient removal has been sufficiently successful to decreased the total amount of phosphorus between the Agricultural Area and the downstream Everglades

Due to the increased water in the Everglades, many species of animal, back on track. Long-legged wading bird populations, including white ibis, great egret, snowy egret and little blue heron, have increased significantly, in some years increasing at greater than double the restoration expectation. Eight shorebird species, absent before restoration, have returned to the river and floodplain, including breeding blacknecked stilts.

The endangered Florida panther and other native plants and animals may once again thrive during this restoration system. Conclusion

It is important to understand that the 'restored' Everglades of the future will be different from the Everglades that has existed in the past. While it certainly will be vastly superior to the current ecosystem, it will not completely match the pre-drainage system. It will be an Everglades that is smaller and somewhat differently arranged than the historic ecosystem. But it will be a successfully restored Everglades, because it will have recovered those hydrological and biological patterns which defined the original Everglades, and which made it unique among the world’s wetland systems. It will become a place that kindles the wildness and richness of the former Everglades. Problems Delays in land acquisition – Especially in the Everglades Agriculture Area. Because much of the land for Stormwater Treatment Area construction was owned by the agricultural industry, acquisition of large acreages was time-consuming and fraught with legal, budget, and policy issues.

Political influences - are most notable in the differences between various levels of government. Florida residents are the most likely to see problems in the current state of the Everglades, and may be active in remedying the local effects. However, they see the more regional problems, and Everglades restoration as a whole, as the responsibility of higher political powers. Few local politicians see restoration as their responsibility or even know the effects it may have on their contingency, such as higher water prices or increased taxes.

This “restoration” of the Everglades, however, is causing some major unforeseen environmental problems throughout South Florida. Such as a huge mass of black water covered more than 700 square miles, larger than Central Florida’s Lake Okeechobe which can kill the habitat lives there.

Some observers argue the increased Everglades runoff is a problem only because the water contains an artificially high level of nitrogen and other nutrients due to South Florida industry, agriculture, and lawn care.

Increasing population - the need for more land and water for the growing population might caused problems.